


Just a Fish in the Sea

by chawanmushii



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Allura is mentioned, Altean Hunk (Voltron), Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean magic, Alteans are merpeople in this, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Attempt at Humor, Awkwardness, Cliche, Falling In Love, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Galra Empire, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, References to Canon, Romance, Shipwreck, Shiro is mentioned, Storm - Freeform, Swearing, Tropes, War, Written for mermay, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-16 14:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chawanmushii/pseuds/chawanmushii
Summary: When he left his hometown of eighteen years behind for life at sea, this was not how Keith imagined things would go.---In the midst of a war waged by the Galra against humans, Keith and Pidge leave their hometown on a journey to save their families. Unfortunately, Keith rushes into things, Pidge is trying and their ship breaks down. When they find themselves caught in a violent storm and all seemed lost, help arrives from beings lurking under the sea.Or, in which Keith and Pidge are on a personal mission that goes wrong, and Lance and Hunk are Alteans/mermen who end up saving them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for mermay. I do not own any rights to Voltron or its characters. This is a fan-work.

When he left his hometown of eighteen years behind for life at sea, this was _not_ how Keith imagined things would go.

“This isn’t working!” Keith hisses from where he was bent over the rigging. Frustrated, he lets himself fall roughly on his back, sending the box of tools at his feet scattering uselessly across the wooden deck. He winces when he lands flat on his utility belt, causing the hilt of his holstered dagger to dig into his spine. It was uncomfortable but he really couldn’t be bothered to remedy it.

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” a muffled voice snapped from somewhere behind Keith. “The main mechanics on this navigation system is missing _at least_ two parts of its gear. I’m surprised it hasn’t spontaneously combusted by now, let alone be able to work! God knows what else is missing!”

Keith growls under his breath, headache mounting as Pidge rants on. The sun above was relentlessly baking him into his skin – and had been doing so for the past few hours, and between the burning heat and humid air surrounding them, he felt like a jacket potato. Shutting his eyes against the brightness in an attempt to stave off the throbbing pain, he attempts to save his childhood friend from working herself into a frenzy, if she wasn’t already in one.

“Look, Pidge,” he begins evenly, cutting her off mid-rant. “I know the situation we are in now is not ideal but we just have to keep trying, okay?” 

“ _Sure_. I’m trying, alright. I’m trying so hard to fix this _ridiculous_ mess right now, like, you would _not_ believe just how _hard_ I’m trying,” Pidge pauses to grunt, winded from whatever it was she was doing. “But you know what, Keith? You can _try_ as hard as you want but there is just no way to fix something that’s _not even there_!”

“So maybe we just need to try harder.”

“Trying isn't the problem! The problem here, _Keith_ , is that this _boat_ needs some brand new parts _indispensable_ for its correct operation. And that is precisely what we _don’t_ have, if you haven’t gotten the memo! Ooh, I know! Maybe one of us will unexpectedly develop magical powers and then we can _conjure_ up important, _working_ parts from thin air since this sorry-excuse-of-a- _boat_ doesn’t seem to have any!”  

“It’s _not_ a boat. It’s just a really small _ship_!” Keith snaps, not even bothering to address the main issue. He knew Pidge was right, damn it, he _knew_. But knowing wasn’t helping him come up with any good solutions for their situation and Pidge’s irritable ranting was eating away at his patience, and his logic was going with it.

“Keith,” Pidge deadpans. “For the last time. This. Is. A. _Boat_!”

“And like I’ve said for the last twenty-three times, it’s a _ship_!”

“This can’t be anything _but_ a boat! And what’s more, it’s made up of parts which are about to crumble into dust with just one nudge of my _pinky_ finger!”

“I didn’t hear you complaining about it when we left home!”

“That was _before_ I knew this _boat_ was running on empty!”

“Stop saying _boat_!”

“ _BOA_ —”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Keith screams in a high-pitched voice. “Do we really want to go at this again? Right now?!”

“You bet I do! It’s not like we’re going _anywhere_ _else_ on this stupid, _non_ -functional _boat_!” Pidge lets out one last exasperated cry before a loud ‘thud’ follows and Keith knows without having to look that the only other occupant on the _ship_ had thrown herself on the floor in utter defeat.

Everything went quiet.

Keith feels the beginnings of guilt bubbling in his chest, alongside the anxiety, stress and steadily growing fear. After all, this entire plan had been _his_ idea and he had been the one who dragged Pidge along. Let’s be frank, Keith wasn’t known for sitting down with a cup of tea and patiently putting together plans. Which naturally meant that Keith rushes, like with everything else he does. In his haste to put his ideas into action, it’s only to be expected if he makes one reckless decision or two. Or three. Or, okay, maybe _a few_ reckless decisions. Like his decision to take up Unilu – a mysterious man he’d met behind the village pub last week – on his offer to buy this _ship_ for a really, _really_ , like seriously you-can’t-say-no, attractive price. 

It figures there would be a catch.

Keith should have seen it coming the moment he’d heard the suspiciously trivial amount uttered by those unscrupulous, deceitful lips. Instead, he was blindsided by the tempting offer and his own wilfulness. And now, here they were.

It had only been five days since Keith had left all that he knew behind to set out on this voyage. He had already learnt everything there was to learn about watercraft-piloting from his time back at the Garrison but this voyage would mark the first time he crossed the borders of his homeland into the unfamiliar waters of the Blue Sea. It was all very thrilling.

At first, everything had been going smoothly – the ship sailed beautifully, not a hint of trouble in sight; Pidge was ecstatic to finally set their ‘rescue mission’ into motion; and Keith was beside himself with joy having finally taken the first step towards the personal quest he’d sworn his life to a year ago. It was the happiest he had been since _that_ incident and the first in a very long time since Keith had truly felt free. The euphoria lasted all the way until the fifth day when the first signs of trouble struck.

It was around noontime when the ship started jerking, an ominous creaking echoing after. Before they could identify the source of the disturbing sounds, there was a loud snapping and the next thing Keith knew, their entire mainsail was crashing down onto the deck. Since their ship relied on sails and wind-power to propel itself, losing their mainsail inevitably led to a rapid loss of speed. Soon enough, they were barely moving. Having lost control of the ability to maneuver their ship, there was nothing to be done but to anchor down and carry out emergency checks.

Upon closer inspection, they found that the main halyard was severely worn and in dire need of upgrading. Shaken by the worrisome finding, this then sparked a very belated, full-on investigation of the true condition of the vessel. That was when they discovered the dilapidated ropes barely holding the rigging together and they couldn’t adjust the remaining sails without running the risk of causing further damage. As if that wasn’t enough, Pidge then realised their navigation device had been moving erratically and of course, it was soon declared that the navigation system was faulty too. Which meant that they didn’t have any real idea where they were.  Oh, by the way, had he already mentioned that their ship’s communicator – their only way to call for help – wasn’t working either?    

Fast-forward to the present, Keith laid on his back, stranded atop a stationary ship with his childhood friend in the middle of nowhere with no proper means of communication and limited supplies. Based on the only physical map of the area they had, Pidge deduced that the civilisation closest to them was at least three days away. On a functioning ship, that is. 

Keith opens his eyes and stares at the sky above. The unyielding sunlight from earlier had faded, its burning rays hidden behind clouds as a fleet of birds flew overhead, squawking noisily as they passed. It was late in the afternoon by now and the gentle rocking of their ship against the waves would have been soothing if not for the predicament they were in.

Keith sighs. So much for their fancy ‘rescue mission.’ What kind of rescuers were they if they were the ones needing rescuing now? Shiro was right. Keith was always jumping headlong into things and getting himself into trouble. If he had only stopped to think, he would have seen the death-trap he was setting himself up for. Even worse, Keith  probably knew to some extent that Unilu was a shady guy but he was simply so eager to _go_ that he had subconsciously chosen to ignore all warning signs. Worst of all, he’d involved Pidge. The wise and resourceful Pidge would not normally find herself in these kinds of troublesome situations – that was Keith’s thing, not Pidge’s. But then again, the plan to leave their hometown had spawned from their mutual need to rescue their families and Pidge’s rationality had always been questionable in the face of things she truly cared about. Not to mention her absolute (misplaced) faith in Keith.

Keith was about to apologize for dragging her along on this ridiculous, ill-planned escapade and suggest they somehow manually _paddle_ their way back to civilisation when Pidge spoke.

“What’s that?”

Pidge is pointing at something on the far-east. Blinking at the sight that greets him, Keith groans. There were thick, dark clouds approaching fast – he could already feel the previously gentle sway of waves becoming rougher as the waters turned choppy.

A storm was brewing, and it was coming straight for them.

What else could go wrong now?

************    

Apparently, a lot.

Within minutes, they were in the eye of the storm.

“Hold down the sails!” Keith shouts against the howling wind, hoping Pidge could hear over the din as rain violently spattered down on them.

“Roger, UGH, that!” Pidge hangs off one of the lines attached to a lower sail, though she was so tiny it looked as though the wind was holding _her_ down instead. 

“Hang on!” Keith’s concern spiked when Pidge is lifted off her feet with each vicious lurch, wind lashing out furiously as thunder boomed overhead; lightning occasionally cracking the pitch black sky open like an electric whip and illuminating the otherwise dark vacuum created by the storm as sharp rain pelted their skins continuously like bullets making it impossible to see anything further than two feet away from their faces. All of this whilst the sea raged, jerking their ship from side-to-side with brutal vigour and sending sea water and everything in it washing onto the deck. 

Keith grits his teeth, hanging on to the main ropes as the merciless storm unleashed the full brunt of its fury on them. He was drenched from head to toe in rain and seawater, leaving him numb with cold; clothes clinging uncomfortably to his skin and long bangs stuck in his face. He couldn’t stop the tremors shuddering down his body with every minute that passed and the storm refused to move on elsewhere.  

CRACK.

Keith glances at the source of the noise, eyes widening when he realised the remaining sails were giving way. Their main mast was literally bending over from the sheer power of the storm and at this rate, Keith feared it would break.

Pulling harder, he tries to alter the direction of the sails to reduce the strain and prayed hard that the shabby lines would hold. But it was futile. Its current condition aside, the ship was obviously not made to withhold such extreme weather. Any sea navigator worth their sea salt would have known to avoid coming into contact with Mother Nature in all it's fury. Unfortunately, they never had a choice. All because Keith allowed himself to be ripped off and bought this lousy, forsaken _boat_.

A shrill shriek snaps Keith out of his thoughts. His stomach lurched when he noticed Pidge hanging off the side of the boat, thin arms hanging on for dear life.

Without a second thought, Keith abandons his ropes, wrapping them haphazardly around the nearest placeholder before rushing to Pidge’s side.

“Come on!” He tries to pull her back on board but they were both wet and hands too slippery to properly grip anything until desperation peaked in Keith. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, he grabs the neck of Pidge’s sopping shirt and hoists her bodily back onto the boat.

Once she was safely on firm ground, Keith pushed her trembling body towards the ship’s cabin, ripping off the only life-jacket they had from the side of the boat and thrusting it into Pidge’s face.

“Put this on and get in!”

“What?! No! The boat—”

“Just get in! You’re not much help out here!”

“What about you?!” Pidge cries just as lightning flared, momentarily lighting up her face so Keith could see her wide, fearful eyes through wet glasses despite the endless rain gushing over them.

“I’ll be fine!” Keith insists, squeezing Pidge’s shoulder in what he hopes is a reassuring gesture.

“But—!”

“GO!”

Without another word, Pidge nods and runs into the cabin, hugging the life-jacket and slipping and sliding all the way. Once she was safely inside, Keith turns back to the ropes and lets out a cry of dismay. One of them had given way completely, leaving their headsail broken clean in half.

Grabbing the remaining ropes, Keith tries again to minimise the damage but it was proving too difficult. His hands ached, from the burn of the ropes or from injuring himself elsewhere, Keith wasn’t sure, and his stamina was beginning to fail. If he was shivering before, then now he was positively quaking.

“I h..have to do t..this!” Keith mutters determinedly under his breath, gnashing his teeth together to stop the chattering. They were going to get out of this. They _had_ to.

With a massive grunt, he pulls onto the ropes just as the wind picks up speed, whipping Keith’s body back and sending the whole boat careening towards one side. The sudden gust takes Keith by surprise and he loses balance, slipping backwards on seaweed and other things which had accumulated on the deck and as if to hammer in the last nail on the coffin, the broken headsail blew open wide, swinging towards Keith and knocking him clean off his feet. Slamming against the side of the tilted boat, Keith didn’t have time to register what was happening before he tipped over the side, toppling overboard into the icy depths below.

He plunged into the water headfirst, thought process stuttering from the harsh contact and senses frazzled from the abrupt drop in temperature. Despite the initial body-shock, Keith found it eerily peaceful. Here, the angry sounds of the storm were blocked off, muted as Keith sank further underwater.

He was _sinking_ underwater.

Panicking, Keith puts up a fight. He had to go back up. Even from way down here, he could feel echoes of the turbulent waves. His eyes snaps open with a horrid stinging as he tries vainly to see. Everything was dark and murky and he couldn’t tell up from down.

Kicking his feet out desperately towards what he thought was the surface – was that light? – Keith used the last of his energy to push up, to go back to where he needed to be. Despite his burning desire, however, it was just so _hard_. He was running out of air and his chest ached from overexertion; hands throbbing, eyes stinging, and legs and everything else in his body was just _hurting_. Keith was so _tired_. He’d crossed his physical limits long ago. But still, he couldn’t give up. He _had_ to go back. He still had a mission.

 _Shiro_.                   

Keith made a last-ditch attempt, pushing to the light. It was so close now. Holding out a hand towards the light – the _surface_ , with lungs burning from the lack of air. Just a bit more.

He reaches out and grasps onto… nothing.

Nothing but water.

At long last, Keith’s lungs gave out. Swallowing salty mouthfuls of water, his throat closes up immediately in protest.

Great, now his _throat_ hurt too. But it didn’t matter anymore. His consciousness was fading, the last of his energy reserves draining to nothingness.

_Sorry, Pidge._

This is how his life ends. He hopes at least Pidge would make it out alive and execute their mission on his behalf.

As darkness began to take over, the last remnants of his awareness registers a glint of bright blue in the distance. It was such a jarring colour in the midst of the expanding void that his vision clears. For one sparkling moment, there was nothing but _blue_.

It was the most _beautiful_ blue Keith had ever seen.

And then everything went black.

************ 

There were shadows. Amongst that, a glowing outline of a silhouette beneath the darkness. 

There was a voice. A soft murmur, unintelligible but ever so soothing.

Most of all though, there was a heavy weight in his chest.

Everything was fading – the shadows were dissolving into dusk, the voice dying out into static silence. In comparison, the heaviness in his chest increased, spreading out like a drop of red paint in clear water, tainting everything in a cloudy, dark pink.

For a moment, there was nothing.

And then, the weight _lifted_.

Keith’s eyes snaps open with a sharp heave, fresh air filling his lungs for the first time in way too long. His vision was unfocused but he could sense something above him.

There’s that _blue_ again.

_Oh._

What a _pretty_ blue _._

Keith thinks he hears a tinkling noise, like the sound his family’s wind chimes used to make while hanging out in the garden on a breezy, summer’s day.

It was music to his ears but as with all good things in life, it didn’t last.

As swiftly as it began, everything dissipates to black and with it, the memory of blue.

When Keith next wakes, he no longer remembers the colours.

************ 

The first thing Keith sees upon regaining consciousness is the open sky. The wide stretch of space was a pretty mix of orange and violet, signifying a new dawn as the early morning rays peeked through a smattering of clouds. The air was clean and fresh, reminiscent to just-washed linen after laundry day. 

Disoriented, Keith blinks slowly, wondering what he had been doing and why he was hurting all over. The bed he laid on was hard and bit into his back, almost as if it was made of _gravel._

And then it hits him.

Shooting upright, Keith’s eyes look every other way, frantically taking in his surroundings despite the pained protests his body makes at the sudden movement. He finds himself sitting alone on a beach, not too far from the shoreline, the now-calm sea waves licking the soles of his wet boots each time the tide washes ashore; an absurd number of rock piles strewn across the entire expanse of the rocky beach and behind him, a jungle stretching as far as his eyes could see. Save for the sound of seagulls cawing above, all was quiet.

Taking in the surrounding natural habitat, Keith doesn’t miss the obviously foreign items littering the sand around him. He recognizes a few of them to be personal belongings and the rest, Keith realizes with a sick feeling in his stomach, were _wreckage_.

It was obvious the wreckage were once parts of a boat.

He tries to stand but promptly falls sideways, a sharp pain shooting up his right leg. But Keith doesn’t feel the pain -- panic and fear were overpowering all other senses.

Pidge. Where was _Pidge_?

She couldn’t have.

She must be okay.

She was…

 _No_.

“Pidge!” Keith scans the length of the beach for signs of life, trying once more to get up. The simple white button-up and black pants he wore from the night before had mostly dried although badly ripped in several places. Through the torn material, bruises and cuts were visible and now that he could actually see, Keith noticed that the skin of his palms had broken and scabbed over, and even while taking that into account, the winner of it all was a nasty gash on Keith’s right, upper thigh – an injury which he had no memory whatsoever of getting. A dark stain was soaking through the pants material around the wound but now was not the time for such insignificant concerns. He had to find _Pidge_.   

“PIDGE!”

Cold dread filled him even as the backs of his eyes burned. He would never forgive himself if anything were to happen to her. He couldn’t lose the only family he had left. He—

Before his thoughts could spiral further, Keith was interrupted by a smooth voice.

“If you’re looking for your small friend, she’s a bit further down the beach.”

Keith whips around at the sound, hand immediately reaching behind his back. He was momentarily confused when his fingers closed around nothing and he realised he wasn’t wearing his utility belt.

No way. He couldn’t have lost _it_.

He didn’t have time to dwell though. Once he had a good look at the source of the new voice, Keith’s jaw dropped.

A young male laid on his stomach, elbows on the beach floor and fingers folded neatly under his sharp chin, just a few meters away from Keith’s feet. The fact that Keith hadn’t noticed someone come so close to him without him realising wasn’t the problem. _No_. The real problem was that the man didn’t have _legs_ , and in its place instead, a _tail_. A bright, blue tail, the colour of the sky.

“What the _hell._ ”

“Why, hello to you too,” the boy greets, a crooked smirk on his face. He stares at Keith with an amused expression.

Keith took a moment to absorb the newcomer's appearance. From the waist up, the boy didn’t look anything too out of the ordinary. He had striking features – bronze skin, short brown hair reaching around his collarbone framing his sharp jawline and high cheeks; his body was lean and lanky, arms slender but lightly muscled. Other than the necklace he wore around his neck – a row of pretty peach-coloured seashells strung together at the front, his upper body was completely bare; with eyes the colour of a deep blue; and there were matching blue markings under his eyes in the shape of a “V” which seemed to glimmer from within. That was where the human-like features ended and the oddities began. His ears were long and pointed, resembling fish fins and from the waist down - where there should have been legs - was a tail with translucent, flowy fins lining the back. Keith found himself staring mesmerized at the sight, noticing that each scale adorning the boy’s lower half was the shape of a perfect diamond and shone in the morning light, wrapping the boy in an ethereal glow as the tail lay curled underneath him. He was a sight to behold and made Keith feel conscious about his own ruined clothes and unkempt hair.

It was clear this boy wasn’t human. While this in itself wasn’t a surprise anymore since humanity had learnt of non-human races living amongst them years ago, it was still the first time Keith had personally come into contact with one. It was a realisation that should alarm him but strangely doesn’t. Keith had always taken pride in his infallible instincts (most of the time anyway) and right now, he sensed no malice coming from this strange being.

“Who are you?” Keith asks, breaking out of his thoughts. He had to be cautious. None of his training had ever prepared him for dealing with beings that looked like half-fish so he had no idea whether the boy he currently faced was friend or foe. What if he turned out to be one of the _Galra_?

For what it was worth, Keith didn’t think the boy was Galra – he didn’t fit the Galra depictions from the Garrison’s classes. Still, Keith decided to be extra careful. He’d learnt his lesson from Unilu.

“Me?” the boy looked surprised. When Keith’s face remained blank, he frowned. “Huh. Pretty sure I’ve mentioned this already…” The boy scratches at his chin, shrugging. “But ooookay. The name’s Lance.”

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed. What did this boy – Lance – mean by that?

There was a pause in which the two openly stared at each other. Keith bristles when he sees Lance’s tail fins fluttering against the waves when a tide washes ashore, captivated yet unable to ignore the burning question in his mind.

And then, like water breaking through a dam, Keith blurts. “ _What_ are you? Are you with the Galra?” 

Surprisingly, Lance lets out a bark of laughter. “Galra?! Holy quiznak, of course not! Do I look purple to you?”

When Keith shrugs, Lance shakes his head, muttering under his breath. “Galra, he says! Honestly! Can’t believe _anyone_ would think that!” 

Oblivious to Keith’s edginess, Lance continues. “Anyway, to answer your question, no, I’m not Galra. Or with the Galra, or anything like that. We’re not even on friendly terms, you see? Though I don’t think the Galra are a very friendly bunch to begin with. When the war broke out, they sort of made themselves _everyone’s_ mortal enemy, if you get what I mean—“

Keith stares as the boy’s rambling gains momentum. He was relieved to hear Lance’s renunciation of the Galra, that is, if Lance’s words were to be trusted. The Galra were vile creatures whom had suddenly made their presence known fifteen years ago by waging war against humanity, causing destruction and death everywhere they went. The Galra were interested only in power and had worked tirelessly to expand their territory and in just those short fifteen years, had already successfully taken over three of the Five Seas which made up the world they lived in – the Black, Red and Green Seas. If nothing was done to stop them, the Galra would soon conquer the remaining two, and ultimately, the world.

Keith’s thoughts dwindled as he re-focuses on Lance who was still talking animatedly.

“—so I suppose what I’d like to say is that I’m the most handsome Altean you can ever hope to find in the Five Seas! But I’m guessing that’s not answering anything, is it? Do you even _know_ what an Altean is? I’m assuming you don’t since we’ve kept ourselves hidden all this time and to tell you the truth, no one’s supposed to know that we still exist. Now that I’ve mentioned it, Allura is probably going to throw a _fit_ if she knows I’m actually talking to a human... hey, you know what? Can we keep this meeting between us quiet? It’ll be our little secret!”

Lance waggles his thin eyebrows at Keith as if they were sharing an inside joke. When Keith stares back with a clueless expression, Lance sighs. Then, without dropping a beat, the bright smile reappears and Lance clears his throat before bringing himself up into a sitting position. He was now eye-level with Keith, a mere arm’s length away.

“Right!” Lance starts. “So I figure you have no idea what I’m saying but um, since we’ve already gotten this far, there’s no point keeping it a secret anymore so I’ll just lay it bare for you." Lance pauses to take a deep breath before plunging. "I’m an Altean. You don’t know about us because... we’re not supposed to show ourselves to you. Humans, I mean. Or anyone above the sea actually. Though there _have_ been some exceptions in the past – like my brother Luis and his best-friend, Jared, who was a human – but those cases are extremely rare and we need to be absolutely sure the people we share our secrets with are those we can trust. That being said, I’ve heard that your folk _do_ know a bit about us, though you think we’re some sort of legend or something? What did Luis use to say again? A ‘mermaid’, I think it was called? Did I get it right?”

Amongst the whirlwind of information Lance had spewed out in such a short span of time, something clicks in Keith’s mind. While he had never heard of an ‘Altean’ before, mermaids he certainly had.

 _Mermaids_.

Keith recalls the stories his foster mother used to tell him when he was still a wee child. Tales of aliens and creatures and all sorts of beings roaming the Five Seas centuries ago alongside humans. One of them, of course, were the mermaids. But that was all those stories were supposed to be. A mere child’s fairy tale, nothing more than a myth. Until now.

“So… you’re an Alt – a mermaid?” Keith asks, voice guarded.

“Yuuup.”

“And you’re saying that mermaids aren’t supposed to show themselves to humans? …or at least, you can only show yourselves to humans you trust?”

“That’s about right.” Lance nods with a bright smile.

“If that’s so, then… why are you here?” Keith was apprehensive, his misgivings clear on his face. If Lance had been telling the truth, then there was no reason for Lance to show himself to Keith, a stranger who certainly didn’t qualify as someone the Altean could trust. There _must_ be a catch somewhere. Keith wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. “What do you want from me?”

“Wow. Haha, very funny. Of all the things you could have said, that is just completely uncalled for.” Lance looks at Keith in mock-shock, as if Keith had just made a bad joke. But the expression was short-lived, quickly turning into displeasure as Keith remained steadfast.

“Look, I don’t know who you are or where you come from. The only thing I _do_ know for sure is that you’re obviously _not_ human. You can’t expect me to just believe everything you say.”

“Now, _that’s_ a low blow, dude. Are you saying I can’t be trusted because I’m not human?”

“I’m saying I can’t trust you because I’ve only just met you ten minutes ago! That’s hardly enough to judge anyone’s character!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up there! What do you mean?”

“What? What do _you_ mean what do I mean?”

“You just said we met only ten minutes ago!”

“I did.”

“No, we didn’t!”

“I— _what_?” Keith stares at Lance in utter confusion.

Lance rolls his eyes, annoyance filtering in and joining his already displeased expression. “Are you for real? You telling me you don’t remember what happened last night?”

Keith hesitated. He tried to recollect the events from the night before but it all came out fuzzy. Everything was a jumbled mess in his head, which he only now noticed was pounding. He ignored it in favour of more urgent matters.

“…there was a storm,” Keith begins.

Lance nods.

“…and I… I fell overboard.”

“Right,” Lance affirms. “And you would’ve drowned too if I hadn’t decided to pull you out of that storm. Go on. What’s next?”

There was a look of anticipation on Lance’s face, his blue eyes boring deep into Keith’s dark-violet ones. Keith was thoroughly confused by the way Lance was acting. Did something important really happen?

There was a long pause as Keith wracked his brains. His memory was blurry from the time he’d hit the water – he remembered landing headfirst – and after that, everything was a big, muddle of goo. After another minute of straining to remember and still nothing, Keith gave up.

“…I don’t remember anything else.”

Lance’s jaw promptly dropped. Keith could have sworn the markings beneath Lance’s eyes dimmed for one split second as Lance registers shock.

“You have _got_ to be kidding me. You seriously don’t remember?”

Keith shook his head. Lance narrows his eyes disbelievingly and Keith finds himself fidgeting under that intense gaze, heat rising uncomfortably under the collar of his shirt.

After a long time, Lance breaks his stare and sighs dramatically. He looked resigned. “Ugh, I guess you _are_ serious. I can’t believe you don’t remember!”

“Um…” Keith mumbles, unsure how to react to the accusatory tone Lance was using. “Remember what exactly?”

“We had a bonding moment, dude!”

 “…o...kay?”

Lance shakes his head, exasperated. Keith squints, unsure what to make of the seemingly distraught merman. He still wasn’t sure whether he should be trusting Lance but the longer they talked, the more he believed the other boy’s words to be genuine. There was a sincerity in his actions and facial expressions, and Keith was inclined to believe that the boy was truly pure.

“So, what’s your name?”

Keith jolts at the unexpected question. “…what?”

Lance rolls his eyes, looking like a petulant child. “Your name, man. I’ve given you mine, don’t you think you should return the favour? Or have you forgotten that too?”

Keith frowns. He figures there wasn’t much harm in it. “I’m Keith.”

“There we go! A name, finally!” Lance throws his arms up wide like a drama queen and Keith was starting to realize this was probably how the other boy communicated all the time. It was oddly endearing.

“So!” Lance starts. “Since you don’t remember our first meeting, I guess we have no choice but to meet each other _again_. So, here we go! Nice to meet you, _Keith_! Again!” Despite the sarcastic way in which he said it, Lance was grinning, his markings glowing brightly and effectively drawing attention to the striking blue of his eyes. Keith feels his breath hitch.

Looking away quickly, Keith’s eyes fall on the wreckage strewn across the beach once more. With a start, he realized he’d forgotten all about Pidge while talking to Lance. Without wasting any more time, he gets to his feet.

“Whoa there, Keith! Where do you think you’re going?!”

Keith grunts as he stands on shaky legs, gritting his teeth against the sharp pain emanating from his right thigh. “I, urgh! Need to check on Pidge!”

“Your friend? Hunk’s with her so I wouldn’t worry if I were you.”

“Hunk?”

“My best bud in the world.”

Just then, a screech tears through the peace of the island.

“Pidge!” Keith calls out, panicked. Ignoring the pain, Keith hurries to where the scream had come from, half-limping, half-dragging his sluggish feet. He had gotten past a particularly large rock formation closer to the shoreline when he catches sight of a familiar figure. Further down the shore, was _Pidge_. She was scurrying quickly away from the sea on all fours as if she had seen a ghost.

“Pidge!”

Pidge whips her head up. “Keith!”

Pidge stumbles towards her childhood friend in a rush and envelopes him in a tight hug, sending both of them tumbling into the sand, at the foot of the huge pile of rocks. “Oh my God, you’re alright! You’re _alive_!” 

“Yeah, and you’re good too!” Keith laughs in relief, thanking the heavens above for keeping Pidge safe. She was still wearing the life-jacket Keith had given to her the night before, her usual backpack underneath it, causing a bulge at the back of the jacket. Other than some scratches on her arms and legs, Pidge looked none the worse for wear. Keith was immensely relieved.  

“Aw, look at that, Hunk!” Lance’s smooth voice interrupts the moment. At the unfamiliar voice, Pidge freezes in Keith’s arms. She turns to him with wide, brown eyes.

“Oh, no. Keith, I forgot to say, there’s _something_ here!” she whispered urgently.

“Pidge, it’s okay. It’s—” Keith is interrupted when another hushed voice joins the fray.

“Oh-em-gee, Lance! We have to get out of here, they _saw_ us!”

“Relax, Hunk. It’s totally cool.”

“No. No, it’s not! It’s totally not cool!” the other voice, which Keith assumes must be Hunk, shot back.

Keith peeked over the top of Pidge’s head where the girl had her face buried in his chest. From where he lay, Keith could see Lance in the sea just by a cluster of boulders lining the shoreline where the waters were still shallow. He appeared to be talking to someone who was hidden behind the boulders. That someone wasn’t visible from his angle, but Keith spotted a hint of yellow flickering in the seawater underneath. 

“Hunk, buddy,” Lance’s voice travelled up. “Don’t worry about it. They’re not dangerous.”

“They don’t seem friendly. I was just checking up on the little one when she woke up! Next thing I knew, she was throwing _stones_ in my face!”

Keith’s eyes snaps down at Pidge and is met by a triumphant smirk and a thumbs up. Keith rolls his eyes. Typical.  

“Nah, you probably caught her by surprise. They’ve never seen Alteans before so I bet you gave her a shock.”

“Yeah well, she gave _me_ a shock too! There’s a reason we’re not supposed to show ourselves. Allura’s gonna _kill_ us!”

“Allura can’t kill us if she doesn’t know.”

“She’ll find out! Lance, she’s _definitely_ gonna find out! Oh, man! I knew this was a bad idea!”

“You’re thinking way too much into this!”

Keith jumps when he feels a sharp jab at his side. Looking down, he sees Pidge glancing behind her where the two bickering figures were.

“So,” Pidge whispers quietly so they wouldn’t be overheard. “You have any idea what’s going on down there?”

Keith nods. “Long story short, they’re mermaids. Or rather, mermen.”

“Mermen!” Pidge’s eyes widened and she strained herself to see better. After a while, she lets out a gasp. “So _that’s_ what I saw! I thought I was going out of my mind when this huge fish with a human face pulled me out of the boat last night! That must have been them!”

“ _They_ are apparently known as ‘Alteans’.”

“Interesting,” Pidge murmurs, her curiosity piqued as she stares at the other two from out of the corner of her eye.

Keith follows her gaze. By now, Hunk’s anxiousness seemed to have devolved into a full-on panic attack. Sometime in his panic, Hunk had drifted away from his hiding place, giving Keith a clear view of the second merman for the first time. Hunk was of a larger build compared to Lance and similarly had fin-like ears and yellow markings underneath his eyes, though Keith noticed that unlike Lance’s, Hunk’s markings did not glow. Lance had an arm around Hunk as he attempted to calm his companion down.

While Keith still had no memory from last night’s shipwreck, going by what Pidge said, it _did_ seem that Lance and Hunk were indeed the ones who had saved them. Guess he owed Lance a thanks after all.   

Pidge shifts from her position on Keith’s chest as she made to sit up, attempting to take a closer look at the mermen. Unfortunately, in the process of doing so, she placed a knee directly on Keith’s injured thigh and now that Keith knew Pidge was safe, all his senses returned to him in full force.

And that gash on his thigh hurt like a _bitch_.

He didn’t even realise it when he let out a cry of pain.

Pidge abruptly backed off, gasping when she noticed the huge wound which she had unknowingly aggravated. Hunk and Lance fell quiet immediately, frozen by the sudden cry.

“Oh no, Keith, I’m so sorry!”

“Its fine,” Keith says gruffly, seeing stars as pain clouded his mind. “You didn’t know.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“It’ll be okay… just… we just need to wrap it up.”

Carefully pulling away the torn material around the wound, Pidge inhales sharply at the sight that greets her. The wound was much deeper than expected. The torn flesh was still bleeding fresh blood whilst the area around it had bruised, turning a sickly greenish, yellow.

“K..Keith, this doesn’t look good. It looks like it’s getting… infected.”

Keith frowns. That sounded troublesome. It was going to be a bigger pain to deal with than if it had been just a simple cut. Never mind the fact they were out in the middle of nowhere with no access to medical supplies. He shrugs. They would just have to deal with it. “It’ll be fin—”

“Let me look at that.”

Both Pidge and Keith turned at those words. While they were busy fussing over the wound, Lance had pulled himself up to where they laid. Hunk was right behind Lance, but stayed a safe distance away from both Keith and Pidge.

“What are yo—” Pidge starts only to stop when Lance raised a hand.

“Just trust me, alright?” Lance said. For the first time that day, Keith sensed tension in Lance’s tone. It was so unlike the easy-going manner he had been speaking in earlier. Pidge went quiet, though her eyes were narrowed and she watched Lance’s every movement attentively. Lance didn’t seem to pay her any mind.

Keith watches as Lance placed his long fingers just by the wound. He seemed to be studying it intently, brows furrowed and lips curled in concentration.

“Lance, wha—”

“Shhh,” Lance interrupts Keith in a hushed whisper, those entrancing blue eyes meeting dark-violet. “I’ve got you.”

Keith’s words dies in his throat. He nodded.

As if he had been waiting for Keith’s permission, Lance smiled softly. Not the smirk he’d had on his face earlier but a small, sincere smile. Almost shy.

Lance had his eyes fixed on Keith’s wound and all of a sudden, his markings glowed even brighter, enveloping his whole form in a bright hue as he ran gentle fingers across the wound. Keith felt a warm tingling sensation run through his body. It felt a bit intrusive but not unpleasant, and then the warmth suddenly centred itself on the wound, which started closing rapidly. Keith could hardly believe his eyes as the torn skin mended itself, the sickly bruises disappearing and returning to its original colour. Pidge’s jaw dropped open at the spectacle she was witnessing.

It didn’t take long for the wound to close up entirely, leaving Keith’s skin healthy and unblemished. But the miracle didn’t end there. By the time Lance was done, all of the scabs, cuts and bruises on Keith’s body had disappeared and even the slight headache had gone too. Keith was as good as brand new.

Pushing himself up easily into a sitting position now that he had made a full recovery, Keith stared at Lance in awe. For a moment, Lance looked embarrassed. And then, the usual smirk returns in full force. Despite barely knowing the other boy, the instant change in Lance’s expressions does not surprise Keith anymore.  

“What’s the matter? See something you like, Keith?”

“Yes,” Keith answers without thinking.

The smirk promptly slides off Lance’s face. He stares at Keith, cheeks flushed, and for once, he seemed to be at a loss for words. Before things could get too awkward, Pidge came to the rescue.

“That was the most freaking awesome thing I’ve seen in my life!”

Lance turns to her with a jolt before regaining some composure. “Why, thank you! I try to keep the awesomeness in check but its’ hard keeping it all in so it spills over pretty often. Gets a little tough at times.”

Pidge laughs. “Normally I won’t hesitate to shoot down a narcissist statement like that but because you’ve just magically _healed_ my best friend, I’m allowing it to slide. I’m Pidge, by the way.”

“Glad to be of service! And I know who you are. Mullet-head there wouldn’t stop crying for you since he woke up.”

Keith gaped. Did Lance just make fun of his _hair_?

Pidge guffaws heartily, all animosity from before instantaneously forgotten.

And just like that, the ice was broken.

The air was soon filled with chattering as Pidge and Lance got to know each other. Shortly after, sensing that the tense atmosphere had dispersed, even Hunk edged closer to their group though he still mostly kept silent. 

It didn’t take long for Lance to offer to heal the minor scratches on Pidge as well and by then, neither Pidge nor Keith held any more doubts against the two mermen.

Like Hunk, Keith stayed mostly quiet as Pidge and Lance launched into numerous heated discussions like how Alteans breathe underwater or how humans tended to wounds if not by magic, each intrigued by the difference in their culture and mannerisms. Keith distinctly thinks that he should thank Lance for saving him from drowning and then again, for saving him from dying of an infected wound, but he couldn’t seem to find a good time to do it.

He did, however, catch Lance stealing occasional glances at him even as he spoke to Pidge, the same curious expression on his face but unlike earlier in the morning, it was now hinted with shyness.

None of them knew it at the time but this meeting would eventually be the start of something which would change all of their lives.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for mermay. I do not own any rights to Voltron or its characters. This is a fan-work.

Once the initial ice breaks, a flurry of things quickly take place.

Pidge begins raking the beach, salvaging as many personal effects as she can while Hunk and Lance watches with great interest. The Alteans let out little ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ whenever Pidge finds something they didn’t recognize. Meanwhile, Keith had split off from the group to explore the island for immediate supplies necessary for their survival. Not knowing what to expect from the dense jungle which seemed to encompass most of the island, he equipped himself with a makeshift blade, which was really a piece of long, flat-ish shrapnel from the boat. It wasn’t much but it would have to do since he no longer had his usual weapon (something he wasn’t ready to think about yet).

The jungle, as it turns out, _did_ cover most of the island though Keith soon discovered that the island itself was quite small. It didn’t take him more than three hours to trek across the whole circumference. Inside the jungle, Keith found a generous assortment of tropical fruit trees and even several types of edible fungi growing along a riverbank. This eventually led to the discovery of a waterfall right in the heart of the jungle and with it, ample supply of clean and perfectly drinkable water. He did also came across some of the local wildlife during his venture but thankfully none were particularly life-threatening. It was plain to see that the island had remained natural and untouched throughout its time in existence, peaceful and host to an abundance of natural sustenance. They had lucked out. Once he was done exploring, Keith returns to the group bearing gifts of fruit and mushroom.

With food and water secured, they took a short break for food. It was pretty easy to get a fire going since Pidge found their box of tools amongst the items washed up on shore, miraculously still intact and with a handy lighter inside. Once Pidge and Keith had eaten their fill – Hunk and Lance still staring curiously at the roasted mushrooms they had been given – they set to work on making a shelter and setting up protocol distress signals, Keith putting his knowledge and skills from the Garrison to good use.

Soon enough, everything that could be done was done and all they could do was wait. Pidge immediately set up camp atop one of the rocks overlooking the sea and started work on their damaged communicator – another thing that had washed up ashore – and Pidge was attempting to repair it using other equipment and parts which she had found. Now that he’d gotten over his initial fear of her, Hunk hovered close by, watching her work with round, inquisitive eyes. 

Meanwhile, Keith was beginning to feel the exhaustion from the recent events catch up on him. It was almost evening by now and the sun was beginning to set, blanketing the island in a soft, orange glow. Keith’s muscles were aching from the earlier trek and he realised he really needed time to just wind down. Retreating into the small opening amongst some trees at the edge of the jungle where they had decided to set up shelter, Keith plops himself down on a pile of dry leaves, which was to be his bed, and sighed.  

“You okay there?”

Keith opens his eyes – when had he closed them? – to see Lance peering at him from where he sat on a flat slab of stone just outside the opening, tail curled up beneath him. The merman had obviously pulled himself all the way here from the shore.

“Yeah,” Keith replies roughly, propping himself up on his hands and leaning back casually before clearing his throat. “I’m fine. What are you doing up here?”

 “Um…” Lance hesitates. “Checking up on you? I mean, you seem pretty… tired?”

“I guess I am. It’s been… a long day. But I’ll be fine after some rest.”

“Cool, cool. That’s great, I guess.”

“Yeah.”

An awkward silence. 

“So…” Lance begins conversationally. He didn’t seem ready to go back to sea. “What do you plan on doing next? I mean, you and Pidge are gonna be stuck here for awhile, right?”

Keith pauses, thinking. “Well, I suppose now that we’ve secured the necessary provisions, we’re not in any immediate danger. But to get off this island, we’ll have to hope someone notices our SOS and sends help. That, or Pidge manages to get our communicator up and running. Whichever comes first.”

Lance hums. “Sounds like a fair plan. Hopefully one or the other happens soon and you’ll be rescued.”

“Yeah,” Keith pauses before snorting at the thought of being rescued. “Once we’re rescued, we’ll probably be sent home. I can’t believe we have to go back so soon. We’ve barely been at sea for a week.”

“Why? Don’t you want to go back?” Lance asks quizzically, expression turning confused when Keith merely scoffs. “What were you guys doing out at sea all by yourselves anyway? You don’t look like fishermen or soldiers to me.”

Keith figures being an ex-Galaxy Garrison student technically makes him at least a half-soldier, but decides it wasn’t worth mentioning.

“We were on a mission,” he explains instead. He isn’t sure he’s ready to share something so personal with someone he barely knows but decides his and Pidge’s saviour deserved to know a few things about their ill-fated journey. After all, if it hadn’t been for Lance and Hunk, he and Pidge would never have made it out of that storm. “Pidge and I are looking for our family.”

“You lost your family? Out at sea?” 

“Yeah. My brother, Pidge’s father and brother, and the rest of their crew were sent out to the Green Sea on an… errand. They were supposed to be gone for about eight months but in the third, we suddenly lost all contact with their ship. This happened a year ago, right when the Galra cranked up efforts on their invasion of the Green Sea. It didn’t take long for the people back home to conclude that the crew must have gotten caught up in the crossfire, that they… didn’t _survive_ the journey. The Garri— the authorities decided to give up on them and wrote them off as a loss. But I know – _we_ know – that they’re still out there. They’re… they’re waiting for us.”

“That’s horrible,” Lance whispers quietly, horrified at what he was hearing. “How could they just give up on your family?”

“Because it’s the easy way out,” Keith snarls as he recalls the Garrison’s dismissal of the men lost during the Kerberos mission. “With the Galra out there and insufficient intel, they refused to take action to ‘ _reduce the risk of further losses_ ’. It’s just a load of bull! In the end, they chose to protect themselves… that’s all it was.”

Keith practically jumps out of his skin when he feels warm fingers covering his hand. He notices belatedly that Lance had moved closer and was seated right next to him, on Pidge’s bed of leaves. Keith’s breath catches at the sudden, unexpected proximity, his hand tingling all over where it made contact with Lance’s.

“Keith, I think you’re doing the right thing. Those humans you speak of, they’re only thinking of themselves. They don’t care about others around them and it’s just not fair to you! There are times when you need to stand up and fight for what’s right.”

There was a determined look on Lance’s face as he said this and Keith wonders if there was a deeper meaning to the Altean’s words. Either way, he was touched by the genuine sympathy and understanding he feels emanating from Lance.

“Thank you, Lance. It means a lot to me…” Keith offers a grateful smile. “Oh, and since I’m at it already, I wanted to thank you for saving us. I don’t think I’ve said it yet.”

“Nahh, it’s no problem,” Lance waves off Keith’s words, breaking contact as he did so and leaving Keith’s hand feeling oddly cold. “Hunk and I happened to be passing by when we noticed your ship was having trouble. Now that I’ve heard your side of the story, I’m glad we stuck around to help. Even if you didn’t remember it.”

Keith splutters as Lance side-eyes him, an accusing yet cheeky grin on his face. He knows Lance is poking fun at him for forgetting what Lance refers to as their 'bonding moment' but he honestly for the life of him _cannot_ remember what happened then.    

“Look, I already said—” But Lance is laughing now. An open, jovial laugh which caused the edges of his pretty blue eyes to crinkle. Drawn by that addictive sound, Keith finds himself smiling along with his new friend. It feels like they’ve just reached some sort of mutual understanding and Keith didn’t dislike the feeling.

Once they’d gotten a hold of themselves and the laughter dies down, they gazed out at the darkening sky as night began to fall. This time, the silence that envelopes them is comfortable.

“Man, would you look at that?” Lance says suddenly. “Hunk’s totally dumping me for Pidge.”

Keith snorts, spotting the two discussing something enthusiastically, fingers pointing everywhere over the gadget Pidge was diligently working on. “Hard to believe they were yelling at the sight of each other just a couple of hours ago, huh?”

“Tell me about it.”

Keith notices the tender look on Lance’s face as he continued to watch their two friends. Nothing else was said so Keith shifts and makes to lie down on his bed. He hadn’t been lying when he told Lance he was tired and he was really beginning to feel the effects of just that. His hand automatically reaches behind to remove his utility belt so that he could settle down more comfortably only to be reminded once more that it was no longer there.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

Keith blinks. Lance had turned his gaze back on Keith. “Do… what?”

“That,” Lance repeats, gesturing at Keith’s back. “You know, like you’re expecting something to _be_ there.”

Keith considers it. Unlike everything else, _this_ part of him was extremely personal. Was he ready to share something _this_ personal with the merman who had saved his life? He eventually decides on telling just part of the truth.  

“It’s just habit,” Keith shrugs nonchalantly. “I used to wear this belt-thing that helped store some of my stuff so that I could have it with me at all times. But I guess it got lost in the storm.”

As the words leave his mouth, the reality slams hard into him. It’s the first time that Keith has acknowledged that he had lost _it_. He had lost the only thing that had connected him to his real family. A complicated feeling stirs within him.

“Oh…” Lance says cautiously. Keith wasn’t sure what kind of expression he was making, but Lance seems to have picked up on his strange mood. Unfortunately, Lance didn't take the hint enough to drop the topic. “Was that… ‘belt-thing’ really important to you?”

“ _No_ , it’s not about the belt.” Keith cringes when he realises how harsh he sounds and turns an apologetic look at Lance’s alarmed face. “Sorry, it’s just…” He huffs, feeling frustrated with himself. “There was this... weapon.”

Lance nods slowly, neither pushing nor saying anything more. He was letting Keith decide whether he wanted to talk.

Keith decides to talk. “It was the only thing I had left of my mother.”

It took a moment, and then Lance’s eyes widened. “You mean— oh, no! I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago.”

Silence settles again. Keith isn’t sure why but even though he had just ended up telling Lance something very personal to him, he doesn’t feel uncomfortable. He’s never been one for heart-to-heart talks, preferring to keep his own thoughts to himself but somehow with Lance, things just spilled naturally from his lips. And for whatever reason, Keith found that he was okay with that.  

“What was it?” Lance questions softly, breaking the silence.

“… what was what?”

“That… weapon.” Lance flinches before attempting to backtrack. “I’m sorry! I shouldn't have asked! You don’t have to answer that! I know I don’t have any business asking—”

But Keith cut the hyperventilating boy off with a shake of his head. “It’s okay. It was… a dagger, just a bit bigger, about this long,” Keith gestures with his hands to show Lance just how long. “And it’s made of this rare ore but what makes it really unique is this weird symbol on its hilt.”

“Symbol—”

“Lance! Where are you?!” Hunk’s voice interrupts suddenly.

“Uh oh,” Lance mutters under his breath, turning towards the sea. The sun had set so it was completely dark out now. “I’ve gotta go!”  

“You’re leaving?” the words were out of Keith’s mouth before he could process them. Of course. It was late and he hadn’t thought about it at all but Lance and Hunk _must_ have been heading somewhere the night before when they bumped into Keith and Pidge. The Alteans had already helped more than they needed to and really, there wasn’t any reason for the two mermen to stay on any longer. Keith’s heart sinks at the realisation. _Lance was leaving_.

Lance turns to him and as if reading Keith’s mind, the merman grins. “Yeah, but don’t worry! I’ll be back again before you know it. I just need to… go home for a bit.”

With just those few words, Keith feels his heart soar, filled again with hope and relief. Outwardly, however, he gives a curt nod. “Yeah, okay. That’ll be great.”

Lance grins before turning around and hurriedly making his way back to sea, his sky-blue tail slinking like a snake behind him as he moved to where Hunk was talking a-mile-a-minute about “being late”, “supposed to be back _yesterday_ ” and “their families were gonna _kill_ them.” 

As Hunk and Lance cheerily waves them off with a promise to visit again when they can, Keith finds himself hoping that help doesn’t come too quickly.

************    

True to his word, Lance visits again. In fact, Lance turns up the very next day – much earlier than Keith had expected – though it wasn’t until late in the afternoon and sans Hunk. 

And even after that, Lance visits every single day without fail. Hunk tags along on a few other occasions, but each time he does, the larger boy sticks to Pidge, the both of them having discovered more in common than initially thought and got along very well. This inevitably meant that Lance and Keith were often stuck with each other as their friends hung out and talked about things neither Keith nor Lance could understand. Even when Hunk doesn’t tag along, Pidge preferred to be left alone to focus on fixing the broken communicator since Keith and Lance weren’t useful at all when it came to these things. So naturally, the two boys ended up spending a lot of time together. Keith was secretly pleased by this arrangement.

As the days passed, they all fell into their own routines. Keith and Lance spent most of their time making idle talk whenever Keith was free, which was _a lot_ of the time since there was only so much to do on an uninhabited island. From these talks, they learnt many little things about each other and their cultures.

“You’ve never heard of sporks?” Lance asks with a bewildered look.

“Nope. We have spoons and forks… but they’re two separate uh, tools. Like this.” Keith draws a simple picture of each utensil in the sand with one finger.

“But that’s so inefficient!” Lance complains, tail lazily splashing in the sea as he lays belly-down on his favourite rock, arms folded in front of him. “Sporks look like _this_ and they’re like, two-in-one and—”

Keith watches with a small smile as Lance excitedly explains the Altean tool. That was, until Keith mentioned that humans also used a tool called a “knife” to which Lance then launched into a full history lesson on ‘kniticks’ – which was apparently a combination of the human equivalent of knife and chopsticks.

On some days, the topics of their conversations were a little less carefree.

“You mean to say you’re a part of this group of ‘authorities’ who decided to give up on your brother?”

“ _Was_ a part,” Keith stresses again. He doesn’t know how but he’d just accidentally let slip to Lance that he had once been a trainee at the Galaxy Garrison. So now he was stuck with having to explain his little ‘incident’ with a certain Professor. “After I decked Iverson in the eye, I was expelled from the Garrison for disciplinary issues. Not that I cared. I stopped caring what the Garrison thought since they made the decision to abandon Shiro. I couldn’t bear to stay any longer with an organisation which didn’t believe in him. Even after everything he’s done for them, they just threw him away.”

“I’ve heard of this ‘Garrison’ before,” Lance scratches his chin, eyes squinted as he recalled. “They’re that military group the humans formed to fight the Galra after the war broke out.”

Keith nods. “They’re the best bet humans have in this war. Though after the incident with Shiro, I can’t say I have faith in the way they do things.”

“Understandable. I’d be the same way. Well, good for you! Your leaving is definitely _their_ loss.”

Keith hides the smile that spreads on his face.

And on other days, their talks get a little too real.

“So why do Alteans need to hide themselves so much?” Keith asks when the thought crosses his mind for the nth time. “We’ve known about other races living around us ever since the Galra showed up so it’s not like it’s a big surprise.”

“When the Galra first emerged, they committed mass genocide. Particularly, of humans. Do you really think your people would have easily accepted seeing another alien race then?” Lance looks pointedly at Keith.

“Well… it might have been nice to know that there were peaceful alien races?”

Lance chuckles. “Maybe. Anyway, that’s only one of the reasons. To be honest, this isn’t something we’re supposed to talk about with outsiders but I guess I don’t mind sharing it with you.”

“Lance, you don’t have to if—”

Lance shakes his head. “I want to.”

Keith falls silent, taking in the serious demeanour that wraps the Altean. He listens attentively when Lance begins to speak.

“As you know, the Galra started a war against humanity fifteen years ago. I suppose the story is the same everywhere you go – world-domination, quest for power and all that shindig – but what most people don’t know, is that there was _another_ war before that. One between the Alteans and the Galra. We call it the Blood War.”

“You were at war with the Galra?” Keith’s eyes widened at the new revelation.

“Mmhmm,” Lance nods. “This goes back a little earlier than the start of the war as humans know it. Back then, the Alteans and Galra were still allies.”

Keith hums, signalling for Lance to go on, intrigued.

“I don’t really know the full details since I was literally just a baby when it happened, but apparently King Alfor – the ruler of the Kingdom of Altea at the time – had a falling out with the Galran Emperor, Zarkon, who was his best friend. The King knew that the Zarkon had become corrupted with power, losing himself to his own greed and selfish ambitions. The King tried to stop him but Zarkon wouldn’t listen. Perhaps he felt threatened or thought that the King would become an obstruction to his plans, nobody knows for sure, but before we knew it, the Galra attacked our home. We were caught unprepared. The King was lost and the Galra obliterated more than half of our population. We had no choice but to retreat for the survival of our race. Alteans used to live in the Red Sea but we abandoned everything – ultimately resulting in the Galra's domination of the Red Sea and at the same time, marked the start of the Galra's ascension to power in the world. Ever since, we’ve rebuilt our home in the Blue Sea, hidden from the eyes of the rest of the world. _This_ is the reason why Alteans aren’t supposed to show themselves. For the sake of preservation of our race. The Galra don’t know we survived the massacre and we can’t afford to risk coming into contact with others outside of our own. Not after what happened with the Galra.”   

Keith doesn’t say anything, watching the wistful expression on Lance’s face as he ended his tale.

“You must really hate the Galra then,” Keith says softly, after some time has passed and Lance doesn’t break the silence.

“I suppose I should, huh? I mean, they killed off half of my people. But… would it be strange if I said I don’t?”

“It’s not strange. It was a long time ago and you’ve stayed hidden under the ocean all this time. It’s hard to feel strongly for something you’ve never really seen for yourself.”

“I suppose you’re right… but you know, if there’s something that I _do_ hate the Galra for, it’s that they’ve forced us into a life of exile. I wanna see the rest of the world! There are islands and Seas to explore! I can’t just stay stuck down at the bottom of the Blue Sea for the rest of my life!”

Keith chuckles. “That’s a pretty big dream. No one's really been able to access the Red, Green or Black Sea ever since the start of the war.” 

“I guess not…” Lance wilts a little at this. “But y’know, when you really think about it, the Galra have already taken over three of the Five Seas. It won’t be long before they come for the Yellow… and Blue.”

“Yeah.”

A heavy silence hangs in the air. The war was still ongoing and the future unclear, both boys were very well aware of that.

“Anyway,” Keith cuts through the heavy air with a firm voice. “That’s what the Galaxy Garrison is for. Right now, I just want to focus on finding Shiro. If that means I have to sail all the way into the middle of the Green Sea and kick some Galra butt, then I’m doing it.”

Keith notices Lance staring at him, something akin to wonder in those bright, blue eyes. And then the bright smile, the one Keith had grown so used to in the past few days, returns on his face, markings glowing just as brightly.

“You’re right.”

And the peaceful days continued to pass them by.

************    

It happened on a fine day, two weeks after the shipwreck. Pidge, Keith and Lance were lounging lazily on the shore late in the afternoon, two pairs of feet and one tail partly-soaked in the sea as they lay side-by-side in the sand, sunbathing.

“Hey, maybe Lance can help us call for help!” Pidge pipes up when the idea dawns on her. She hadn’t moved from her place right in the middle of the two boys even as she spoke. “I’m an idiot! I should have thought of it sooner!”

Just the day before, Pidge announced that the communicator was a lost case. It was frustrating since Pidge had spent so much time and effort toiling away but there was just nothing more that could be done. They needed to contemplate other options.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Keith says from his place on Pidge’s right, frowning at the sky. “Alteans aren’t supposed to show themselves to humans, remember?”

“I know, I know. But he doesn’t have to _show_ himself to pass a message. We could write a note and get Lance to leave it somewhere for someone to find. I think it’s a good shot!”

“I don’t know. I still like the idea of building a raft—”

“It’ll take _months_ to reach the next town on a raft! And might I remind you, if we were to bump into another storm on a _raft_ …” Pidge trails off with a meaningful look.

Keith scowls. As always, Pidge is right. He’s well aware of that. Their attempts at signalling for help so far have all proven futile. If they wanted themselves to be found soon, they’ll need to consider more direct methods.

“I suppose I could help,” Lance says, pushing himself up into a sitting position. Lance’s brows were scrunched up, the Altean probably already visualising what he needed to do in his mind. Keith felt his stomach stir, still not liking the idea. He pushes up into a sitting position as well, meeting Lance’s eyes.

“Lance, you don’t have to. It’s risky and you’ve already done so much for us. We couldn’t ask for more.”

“No, Pidge is right,” Lance shakes his head. “You guys have been here for awhile and not a single ship has come anywhere close from what I can tell. This area isn’t known to humans and the nearest town is a good distance away so it’s not a surprise that you haven’t been found yet… but if I were to help...”

“It’s definitely worth a try,” Pidge states firmly from between them. “I know you’ve done a lot for us, but please! Help us this one last time?”

A part of Keith wants to stop this, wants to tell Pidge to stop bothering Lance, wants to tell her that things will work out somehow. But in the end, he doesn’t say anything. Because he knows that Pidge’s idea is brilliant. Because he knows he can’t explain why he doesn’t mind _staying_ on this island. At least for a bit longer. He wasn’t ready to leave yet. To leave everything it had become to him. To leave this place which currently kept him connected to Lance.

_If I leave, will I see Lance again?_

There was a troubled look on Lance’s face, blue eyes alternately flicking between Pidge and Keith before ultimately lingering on Keith. Keith meets Lance’s uncertain gaze with his own sharp ones, trying to communicate without words that Lance didn’t have to do this. That Lance could say no. That they could find other ways out of this so please, _please_ just say no.

“I’ll do it,” Lance says finally.

Keith feels his heart plummet into his stomach. But he can’t let it show, not now. So he nods stiffly.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say this chapter is the calm before the storm, but then I realised we already had that in chapter one. The next chapter, which is the longest, will also be the last.


End file.
